Florida International University (FIU) is an urban, multi-campus, doctoral granting institution (Carnegie Research Extensive Institution) located in Miami, Florida's largest population center. The mission of this state university is to serve the people of southeast Florida, the state, the nation and the international community by imparting knowledge through excellent undergraduate and graduate teaching, creating new knowledge through research, and promoting public service. Five strategic themes guide the University's development: International, Environmental, Urban, Health, and Information. FIU focuses on these themes with a commitment to quality management and cultural diversity. [unreadable] [unreadable] With its current standing of 33,000+ students (enrolled Fall 2003, 66.67% minority), "Health" as a designated mission area, and its stated goal to be one of the nation's top 25 public urban research universities, FIU provides a significant opportunity to develop more underrepresented minority scientists for biomedical research careers. The MBRS program at FIU has fostered faculty research by enabling selected faculty to conduct biomedical research with adequate funding for equipment, supplies, and salary support for research. The program also encourages interdisciplinary interchange, facilitates resource sharing, and provides funding for faculty to present their results at national meetings. Additionally, it provides the building of a research experience and data base so as to encourage the faculty to obtain additional, non-MBRS support for their research. The active SCORE grant currently supports 9 subprojects. [unreadable] [unreadable] After FIU and external review to determine their scientific merit, this supplemental application includes 6 research subprojects that will broaden the opportunities for minority faculty and students in biomedical research, including scientific areas of environmental health and nutrition that are not currently available in the FIU MBRS Program. [unreadable] [unreadable]